PennDOT: Engineers Will Study “Dangerous” Intersection

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HANOVER TOWNSHIP -- The woman killed in yesterday's crash in Luzerne County has been identified as 82-year-old Joan Madden of Mountain Top.

The crash happened on what some people call a dangerous intersection on Sans Souci Parkway.

And today, our phone calls and reports have prompted PennDOT engineers to take a closer look at that intersection.

Police say Madden, a retired Crestwood High School math teacher, was killed when her car struck a pick up truck. The driver of the truck had minor injuries.

But most people we talked to say this has been a problem intersection for years. Crash data provided by PennDOT shows over the last 10 years, 49 crashes happened on this stretch of the Sans Souci Parkway. Around 7600 vehicles travel here every day.

Eleanor Skurski of Nanticoke says she wants to see a traffic light at the intersection.

"When traffic is going they could hit you and that way it`s built up even people coming from work even see so you have to take your chances going across the roads," said Skurski.

Alice Matyas owns Austies Family Restaurant which is just a few hundred feet away from the intersection. She says Monday's deadly crash should send a message.

"One is enough. Just having one accident is more than enough. We would love to have something done. We really would," said Matyas.

Up until a few weeks ago there was a temporary traffic light at the intersection of Route 29 and the Sans Souci Parkway just down the street from a permanent traffic signal. Township officials say getting one at the intersection all comes down to cost.

"PennDOT would have to be the one to allow that to put in and normally a municipality doesn`t install the traffic lights because of costs. It is not cheap to put a traffic light in," said Hanover Township manager John Sipper.

PennDOT officials say because of our questions to them following the deadly crash, they will have engineers take a closer look at that section of road and work with the township to come up with a plan to make this intersection as safe as possible.